Page 124 of Fallen Thorns
How is this possible?
With Mars still watching from behind, and the fighting stopping entirely so that everyone could turn to the scene… he took his first blow. Struck her down with the back of his hand. I think I heard her laugh one last time before black claws plunged down and removed her jugularentirely.Everyone stood frozen in place — his Manipulation — as he hacked away brutally, snapping and pulling and biting; completely ripping her apart. A massacre, and he would not stop.
From his back, I blamed my failing eyes at first, but then there was no mistaking: two tawny feathered wings unfurled and stretched out in the morning sun, extending out to their full span as the light glowed behind him.
Hands bloody and shirt torn, he stood before us in his new form, a cry escaping from his throat as he bared his head back in anguish.
It still sounded like him. His tone cracking ever so slightly into a wail. And maybe he was in there still, pained from the death of his friend. But it was too late. I did all I could to prevent this, but some things are beyond even the powers of our kind.
I caught a glimpse of Mars; their body language reading red.
I had no energy left.
I closed my eyes in defeat, head hitting the cold, hard ground.
I’m sorry, Arlo.
Arlo
How canI stand by and let my friends die. What sort of pathetic excuse of a human lets that happen? And that’s what I am — what I always have been. Never enough.
I think back to his words that night. How I could be so much more…
Is this the only way?
Michael
I take his hand,waiting until he has completed his work before I join his side. A deathly quiet has fallen across the land.
Four dead, all from Lucy’s side — well, except the boy. His partner continues to cradle his body in the melting snow. The humans survived, somehow. Both long gone, running as far as their little legs could carry them.
Mars, dear Mars. I stand aside to see how they react as my Star turns to face them in his new form. Long black claws and his beautiful, beautiful wings.
Mars does not — cannot move. Tears stain each cheek, their mouth fixed in a sorry gasp.
They stare at each other for a moment, so many unspoken words channelling between them.
“Come on,” I finally say, taking his hand.
Maybe he does still recognise them, maybe he always will. But for now, it is not enough. With one final glance, he turns back to me and follows me off into the light.
The Sun, The Moon, and The Star together on earth.
I smile. My work here is done.
ChapterThirty
2 weeks later
Marianne
When I was a little girl, my mother showed me a painting of an angel.
“Why do they need wings?” I asked.
“So that they can watch over us all and be there for us whenever we need protecting,” she would always reply.
I’ve never been a heavily religious woman; I tended to keep my thoughts and opinions to myself and live my life asIsaw fit, not the way someone else decided. But I would always think about the human image of an angel. Our guardians.
